One of my friends told me that he couldn’t quite square Stoicism and what he knew about me. The general impression of Stoicism is, well, the “stiff upper lip” sort of stoicism, and quite a few people have told me that I’m one of the happiest and most optimistic people that they know. So I figured I’d write about it a little.

I get my understanding of Stoicism from people like Epictetus, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, the people who translated their books, and more recent authors like William Irvine. The philosophy was pretty similar to how I saw the world growing up, and reading about the ancient Stoics (and similar schools of thought) helped me flesh out those thoughts further because I could take advantage of other people’s insights.

I really appreciated having inspiring role models, time-tested tools, and a wider vocabulary for recognizing and working with my thoughts. I liked the validation of equanimity as a goal in itself (not just pleasure or happiness). I found negative visualization and other Stoic practices to be really good at helping you develop appreciation and deepen your joy. I liked the sharp delineation between things you can control and things you can’t, and the radical freedom and responsibility this helps you realize.